Nature of tinnitus

[CaptainMal]

I should be 70 next year, if I make it. Since about 50 I have had tinnitus pretty bad. Decades of shooting, motorcycling and running a high school rifle range got me. Got me bad.

Hearing today is poor but the tinnitus has reduced dramatically. Many days/weeks I have no conscious awareness of the issue. Can't say it's "getting better". Can say I just don't notice it much.

Now, as I write this, my mind is listening for it. It's there but quite reduced. Maybe it's a mental thing?

 

[tenring]

I think that is the case with me, also. About 50 years ago, I began reloading and shooting every day. Back then, I could not afford ear muffs, so I stuffed cotton in my ears. Hearing loss is common in my family. My dad, grandfather and uncles all had it. Now I am 90% deaf in both ears. Tinnitus started for me about 15 yrs ago, and drove me crazy for a long time. My hearing loss became greater, to the point that I bought hearing aids 7 years ago. I wear them from morning to night. I believe they have reduced the tennitus, but it is still there. I notice it mostly when I remove the hearing aids at night, but I have bercome accustomed to it.

 

[John from MN]

Trying to get to sleep at night is the worst part of it. I have to have a fan or the tv on. I'm not even 40 yet.

 

[normmatzen]

My Human Host,

I couldn't find any listing for a Radio Shack sound Generator,but try this:

http://www.naturestapestry.com/soundmachine.html

This is a product sold by Homedics. They make all kinds of neat stuff like back massage, etc.

 

[John from MN]

Thanks, Norm. I'll check it out.

 

[Phil3]

I will offer the flip side. I have not been shooting that much, but have hung around very loud race cars and motorcycles for some years, as well as riding a motorcycle for decades. Even with a helmet, the wind noise is high. It does not appear I have lost any hearing, but that I attribute to wearing ear plugs on the motorcycle and efforts to minimize noise exposure in those other noisy situations. I never went to loud music concerts, etc. I was always so concerned about it, I would even wear ear plugs on a jet airliner if I had to sit in the back on a aircraft with engines on the sides of the fuselage.

Early on, I recall people not covering their ears or protecting their hearing when a top fuel dragster or funny car left the line. I can't believe they have not suffered hearing loss. Decibels is something like 160. Now THAT is loud! I recall the sound literally shaking up my insides...like the cup below. Don't have a full stomach near these things.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=efb_1363990247 - Start at 30 second mark.

Phil

 

[vtmarmot]

I got tested about 12 years ago and they said I had pretty bad upper range hearing loss. I told them I had tried to be careful and use protection but didn't always when I was younger. They said some folks seem more immune to hearing loss and tinnitus than others and can run jackhammers and chainsaws etc. with little problem. Others have very sensitive ears. I have read that those who get migraines frequently also have hearing loss due to pressure in the middle ear the presses on the hair cells and eventually kills them. Anyhow, I got tested again recently and am getting fitted for hearing aids. It has honestly killed some of my desire to shoot.

 

[BoydAllen]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8460390
http://scholar.google.com/scholar_url?hl=en&q=http://www.magnezyum.info/images/stres_1.pdf&sa=X&scisig=AAGBfm1T27nCOvAvoJ1SHwKK72duF5jZSA&oi=scholarr
http://www.naturalnews.com/026834_hearing_loss_magnesium_Vitamin_D.html
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01273883
There are some things that you can actually do for yourself that seem to help. These are all from good sources.

 

[Howfar]

Get worse, yes, lots worse. I have this jet turbine in my left ear 24/7. Never any peace and quiet. About 20% in my rt. ear.
No cures, basically just masking, and try not to make it worse.

 

[dryhumor]

I hear the sound of crickets chirping in the summer evening, 24/7. I actually catch myself from time to time, thinking I really do hear them..............

In the winter.

It doesn't seem to have gotten worse, but I have frequency loss. Some voices are at the frequency I cannot hear at 3 feet away, some seem irritating. General noise starts to bother me after a few minutes. As I work on gas and diesel generators, I'm not likely to get relief until I retire from it. Ear plugs, I buy by the box full.

Always assume that any noise is going to make it worse, and wear protection. There's no reason IMHO to stop doing things you enjoy.

 

[DRNewcomb]

Like many of you, I too suffer from tinnitus. I have a question that I can't seem to find an answer to.

Once you have tinnitus, can it get worse?

I started out many years ago with occasional tinnitus in one ear or the other. It would come and go. Today, my tinnitus is an almost constant 5 KHz tone in both ears. So yes, mine did get progressively worse.

There are treatments, but no cure. I attended a lecture (for audiologists) given by a university professor who teaches a method that involves wearing a headset that plays certain sounds that mask the tinnitus while doing biofeedback. The theory is that you can not cure it but you can train your brain to ignore it, similar to the way your brain learns to ignore that floater in your right eye or the partial loss of vision in the other. I've had one dentist tell me that it was due to TMJ and he could fix it with a "fully equilibrated bite block" but this does not conform with what I know of the condition. In any event, you can spend a great deal of money on a cure and not get any relief.